Time to Choose
by Avalanche
Summary: After some years the Inner Senshi visit Kinmoku, where a great celebration is about to be held... when I first uploaded this, it was totally messed up, so I hope this time it'll be better! Please R&R!


~~**~~**~~**~~**~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~**~~**~~**~~ Alright, this is my first attempt at a fanfic (and how many times have all of us read this? ~_^), and I've worked hard on it, so I hope you like it. I have never read the Manga version of Sailor Moon and know only little about it so if I say something, and the Manga says something else about it, please understand that and don't get mad at me. My special thanks goes to Rasciana-chan, who is a really, really dear and great friend for me. So, my dear friend, if you read this, know that you have helped me very much and encouraged me to write it in the first place. This chapter is for you! Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all related characters do not belong to me *sighs*. If they would, the series wouldn't end as it does. Seiya & Usagi rule! Yeah! *sweat drop* Uhm, sorry, I got a little carried away. Back to the topic: As I said, they don't belong to me. They are the brilliant creation of Naoko Takeuchi, and belong to her and Toei Animations (I think) and maybe to various other companies, whose names I don't know.The new character(s) do belong to me, though. Rating: G Time To Choose - Chapter 1: Future x 2 = ? The sound of steps echoed through the dimly lit corridors as a tall woman was walking through them. Her shoulder-long, curly white hair and her gray eyes reflected the strange light that seemed to come from everywhere around her. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going. It wasn't necessary. No matter which turns she took, she would always end up at her destination. Sometimes the walk seemed to take only a few seconds; sometimes it was like an eternity. It all depended on her, on when she was ready to arrive. Lost in her thoughts the woman continued her walk. Neither Time nor Space had any influence here. The Palace had been built on a small plateau mountain, which was rising to about 650 feet height. Fragile, slender bridges connected its many elegant towers at various heights. The towers themselves were of different sizes, rising to between 30 and 100 feet. All the towers were delicately wrought, like slender pillars, topped with spiraled spires, and it almost seemed as if they had grown from the earth beneath them. Their polished surface caught the light of the rising sun, so that the entire structure seemed to glow with its own light in multiple shades of red. On a balcony of the highest tower, overlooking the metropolis below the mountain, and the lands beyond to the sea, stood a beautiful young woman. Her ankle-long red hair, done in two braids with loops on either side of her head, and her translucent, red skirt were blowing in a light breeze. The skirt looked rather strange. It consisted of many long triangular stripes of silk. The top of her dress was shoulder-free, with long, wide sleeves, and lined with black. Her black shoes were pointed like genie shoes. The olive-flower symbol on her forehead was glowing softly. 'Look at what we've achieved in just a few years!' She smiled happily at the thought. Down in the city her people were already busy. Though it was still dawning and the city was far below her vantage point, she could see the movements. "Princess?" She turned around. A very tall woman was standing in the doorway. She was clad in a black leather fuku, consisting of high-heeled boots to about mid-thigh, very short pants with two violet ribbons going from them around her waist and a golden star where they went across each other, a bikini-like top, a "sailor collar", and long gloves. Around her forehead was a golden tiara with a star in the middle. Her almost knee-long brown hair was held back by a ponytail and her violet eyes were looking at her questioningly. "What is it, Maker?" "I just came to tell you that everything is prepared. They are waiting for you," Her voice trailed off. "I know, Maker." She sighed, "How's Fighter?" "Still in her happy mood, astonishingly. It is hard to believe what a change those few words have wrought in her." After they had left Earth, Fighter hadn't been the same. She had worked relentlessly on restoring their planet, driving herself to almost complete exhaustion. Once they had found her unconscious, overtaxed by the amount of energy she had spent. She had taken to keeping to herself, rather than spending time with her friends, and had rarely ever smiled.But since she had heard the news, just a few weeks ago, her behavior had totally changed. And Maker knew perfectly well why. She was still astonished but she had stopped to wonder. It was good to have the old Fighter back. "Well, we all know how much that means to her." She took a deep breath and a last look at the beautiful panorama behind her, "Come on, Maker, we should not keep them waiting! There's still so much to be organized!" In a few days the celebrations would begin in the city below, and everywhere else on the planet, to celebrate its rebuild. "Very well, Princess." The two women, a princess and her advisor, left the room. Some time later, at a different place, but on the same planet, three young women were enjoying themselves. The smallest of them was very slender, delicate and fragile. She had long hair multicolored in different shades of red and gold and light red eyes. She was wearing dark red, wide trousers, and an also dark red, gold-embroidered top, golden boots, and a golden bracelet with rubies set in the form of a flower-blossom. But her most striking feature was surely her wings. They were fairy-like and translucent, and reflected the light, splitting it into the different colors. And by the looks of her she was bored, deadly bored. The tallest had very dark brown eyes and a little more than waist-long russet hair, on which she had a black hat with a feather. She was wearing ocher trousers, a white blouse, a russet sleeveless jacket, and black shoes. as obviously annoyed. The third woman, slightly smaller than her annoyed companion, had light blue eyes and wavy light blue her hair falling down to her ankles. She was wearing a short white skirt, a lavender blouse, and white high-heeled shoes. And she was oblivious to both of them. "Wow...hmmm...yummy...oh...this tastes great! And give me a little more of that...no, the other one...come to think about it...hmmm...give me both!" Kigaru sighed and looked at her friend. 'How can she possibly eat that much?' "Really, Siren, you have a bottomless stomach!" "Thank you, Akane!" "Oh, you're hopeless!" The two women exclaimed simultaneously. Then they looked at each other, shook their heads, and sighed. Siren just ignored them. Kigaru looked out of the window. People were walking down the street, laughing and chatting happily, enjoying themselves, in expectation of the celebrations ahead. 'And I'm stuck here.' "Oh, Siren, come on, I don't want to be stuck in here forever, you know?!" Kigaru had to laugh about that. 'Two persons, one thought.' She turned to watch the two friends, smiling again. 'This could get interesting.' "But Akane, we can't leave now. What about the food?" "I don't care!" Akane was fuming now. "Oh, great!" Siren cried joyfully. "What?!?!" "Try this, Akane, it's really delicious!" Siren smiled at her friend encouragingly, handing her a bowl. It was filled with different sorts of ice cream. "I DON'T CARE!!!" Akane slammed the bowl on the table, spilling its content. Several people turned around to them, upset at the noise. Kigaru was laughing with joy. Then she saw the owner of the cafe. He was heading in their direction. She breathed deeply, trying to restrain her laughter. "Look at the mess you've made!" Siren said indignantly. "The poor food!" She giggled. 'Get a hold on yourself, Kigaru!' "Oh yes, the poor food!" Akane snorted sarcastically. "I'd rather say, 'My poor nerves!'" "Ahem...my ladies," The shop owner was at their table now. "Take this!" Siren took out a bar of white chocolate and unwrapped it, "Eating it will calm you down. It always helps my nerves, at least..." 'Calm down, Kigaru, just calm down.' Kigaru started giggling again. 'Calm down, calm down...' she chanted in her mind. But then she saw the look on Akane's face. It was just too much. She completely lost her self-control and burst out laughing so hard that she had to hold her stomach. "My ladies, please calm down!" The shop owner said, looking helplessly from the laughing woman to Siren, who was now eating again. Then his eyes settled on Akane, who was inwardly raging at her two companions. "Milady," he began. "What?" Akane turned to the man, who took an involuntary step backward at her angry expression. Then he remembered who he was, and straightened. "I must ask you to stop this at once, or leave now!" "Right!" Akane agreed, "Let's leave now!" She took Siren's hand and hauled her up. Then she headed for the door, dragging her friend with her. "But..." "Shut up, Siren! Come on, Kigaru!" The addressed woman giggled again, got up and handed the stunned shop owner a banknote. After a few moments he recovered enough to say, "Wait here, please, while I get your change..," but he was talking to thin air. The small woman had already left, hurrying after her companions and leaving him to stare at the small fortune in his hand. Outside and a few streets later Kigaru caught up with Akane, who still held her friend's hand, and Siren, who was still protesting. "Thanks for the show!" Akane gave her a devastating look, and quickened her pace. "Boy, am I lucky that looks can't kill!" Kigaru grinned, "Oh, you should have seen yourselves!" She giggled again. "Uhm, would you mind running a bit slower?" Then her expression softened, "I'm sorry, really, I am...I didn't mean to upset you that much." Akane gave her a sour look, but then she stopped and sighed. Siren looked extremely relieved at the change. "I know, Kigaru, it's just...Siren's behavior was absolutely impossible." And after a short pause and a significant glance at the blue-haired woman, "As usual!" Siren gave her an upset look. "That's not true!..And even if it were, YOUR behavior was even worse! Dragging me out like that and then pulling me halfway through the entire city! My arm is still aching, and my legs, too! And it was so exhausting! I'm really hungry now!" The two other women looked thoroughly embarrassed. (If they were anime, they would have *huge* sweat drops! ^_^) "Oooooo-kayyyyy, Siren." Kigaru said slowly, "Listen to me. We've just spent one and a half hour in that cafŽ and ALL that you'e been doing in there was eat-" "All she ever does is eat." Akane interrupted. "- but now I want to enjoy my holidays. And I don't want them to be spoiled by anyone!" She looked at Akane warningly. "That's not what you and me traveled to Kinmoku for! So let's just enjoy ourselves, ok?" Siren seemed to be taking to the idea. "Yeah, we could go shopping now!" Akane nodded. "Sounds good to me!" "And afterwards we'll go to a restaurant and have a delicious lunch." Siren smiled dreamily. "Does she ever get off that?" Kigaru wondered. "Does she look like that?" Akane retorted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Holidays!!! Two months of blessed holidays! How she had missed that. And what beautiful holidays that would be! 'I will see them again, especially-' "Are you sure that you have everything?" a voice cut through her thoughts. "Oh, stop that, Luna! I'm not a child anymore, so don't treat me like one." "But Luna's right, Usako. You really tend to forget things." Usagi grimaced. "Picking on me, are you?" she asked. But she wasn't really angry. At the moment there was only one thing bothering her. "Are you really sure that you can't come, Mamo-chan?" "I'm sorry, Usako. But it's simply not done, and you know that. I've explained it to you time and again." Mamoru said gently, and a little sadly, too. Usagi looked down sadly. "I know. I just hoped..." "I know, Usako. Don't worry about me. You just enjoy yourself there, will you?" That brightened her up considerably. Mamoru loved to see her smile. He looked deeply into her clear blue eyes. "And be careful, alright?" "Oh, of course I will! Don't worry, we've made sure that it'll be a safe journey." Luna shook her head. Usagi was now twenty years old, but she still didn't understand. 'But why should she? After all, that happened four years ago...' 'She's so innocent.' Mamoru smiled. 'I'm being silly, there's no reason to worry.' "Oh no, look at the time. If we don't hurry, Luna, we will be late!" She hastily grabbed her bags, and took a last look around. Nothing was missing. Then she looked at Mamoru. "So I will be seeing you again in two months. Goodbye, Usako. And don't forget, I love you!" "How could I forget that!? I love you too, Mamo-chan." He bent down and kissed her. Luna looked uncomfortable. "I really don't want to interrupt you two, but-" Mamoru and Usagi parted. "I know, Luna." Usagi sighed, and looked up at Mamoru. "Bye, Mamo-chan!" She said a little sadly. "Bye, Usako! Greet the others!" "I will, for sure." She smiled at him. Then she checked everything again, and Luna and she left their apartment. Down on the street she opened her car, and put her baggage in. Luna jumped onto the passenger's seat. Usagi got in and started the engine. "Wow, isn't this great, Luna?" she asked joyfully, "We're finally going to see them again. And their planet, I wonder what it looks like. Seiya once told me about it, and what it had been like before Chaos came." "Really? I didn't know that. When?" Luna asked. Usagi laughed lightly. "There's no reason to become suspicious, Luna! Well, he didn't really tell me...he showed me, you know. On the day of their concert in the park." "You seem to remember that pretty well! And him, too!" Usagi looked away quickly to hide her blush and faked a laugh. "Of course I do. It was the time of our fight against Galaxia! How could I forget that!?" Luna looked at her intently. 'No, even you wouldn't forget that fight. But the day in the park had nothing to do with this, and you know that. You've become increasingly distracted since..since when?' Luna thought back, and suddenly remembered, 'Since we've got Kakyuu's invitation! Come to think about it, that's when you started talking about Seiya again. Are you hiding something, Usagi?' Usagi noticed Luna's absentminded expression. 'To attack is the best defense.' "I see you're already miles ahead of us." she said casually. "Hmmm? What did you say?" "That's alright, Luna. I won't tell Artemis..." Usagi grinned. "What? What are you talking about, Usagi?" Luna looked slightly confused. "Oh, I think you know pretty well what I was talking about.." "No! I have no idea!" "C'mon, Luna! Don't play stupid! I know you've missed him!" "Missed who?" Luna was bewildered now. "Yaten, of course!' "Don't be silly, Usagi!" Luna blushed. "Ha! Gotcha! I knew it!" Usagi cried triumphantly. "You're imagining things!" Luna replied indignantly. "And now stop teasing me! And watch where you're driving!" "Yes, ma'am!" Usagi replied in mock-salute. "And stop making fun of me!" "Okay, okay, Luna. It's alright." 'I'm going to see you again, Seiya, and then-' she stopped in mid-thought, '-nothing. We're just friends. We can't be more than that.' "Remember Chibi-Usa..." she whispered, too quietly for Luna to hear. Her last words still echoed through the room, where a tall, dark green haired woman with deep red eyes had been watching the scene. "Right, remember Chibi-Usa, Princess. Remember dear Small Lady. She has to live!" "No. You want her to live, Pluto. That's a difference." A calm, female voice said. Sailor Pluto spun around. In the doorway of her Sanctuary she saw the silhouette of a tall, slender woman. She couldn't see her features, but that wasn't necessary. She knew that voice. "Chronos!" "Exactly, Pluto. I see you still remember me." The woman stepped into the room gracefully. She was dressed in a long, flowing, hooded, black robe, and was wearing a silver chain set with onyx around her waist. Her eyes, the only visible part of her face, were icy gray, and spoke of high age. Yet when she pulled the hood back, revealing shoulder-length white curls, her face was like that of a young woman. "What are you doing here, Chronos?" "Am I not allowed to be here, Pluto, in the place that I myself once created?" "Of course you are, I just didn't think-" "-That I would ever use it again? To be honest, Pluto, I really never intended to come back. After all, you are the Guardian here. And you have always fulfilled your duties perfectly." Suddenly her voice held a certain sharp edge. "But now it seems to me that you have misused your powers." "I thought that matter had been resolved. We had to stop Mistress 9!" Pluto protested, but deep inside she knew that this wasn't the reason for Chronos' unexpected visit. "I'm not talking about that, Pluto," the other woman replied sternly. Pluto winced inwardly. She had known it. "I'm talking about Chibi-Usa." "No! You can't mean that! She's destined to be!" The words were out before Pluto could stop them. "No, Pluto." Chronos shook her head. "There's no such thing as destiny, as you should know very well. In bringing Chibi-Usa to this time you have caused great damage." "I had no other choice, Chronos. The enemy had sent their forces back in time, too." "That's right. But it's no excuse for your sending Chibi-Usa back. You could just have helped the Senshi, without revealing a possible future to them." "Small Lady was so desperate to help her mother-" Pluto muttered helplessly. "-and that touched you so much that you wanted to help her." Chronos finished her sentence. Pluto nodded."Oh, Pluto, how could that have happened to us?" Chronos looked sad. Pluto was surprised. 'Us? What does she mean?' "But I can't say I blame you. I was tempted to do so myself more than once. I even once did so." Pluto looked at her in disbelief, but also with a little hope. 'So that's why she said that-'"Yet you also have to consider the Moon Princess. You know her feelings; you have seen them. You have seen a part of what could have been." "Chibi Chibi." "Precisely. Chibi Chibi. She's also a Small Lady." Pluto remembered Chibi Chibi. "She was such a cute little girl." "As was Chibi-Usa." Pluto nodded. "What do you think I should do now, Chronos?" "Well, I think we should make up a way to undo the damage we wrought." Suddenly Pluto understood. "You brought Chibi Chibi to this time?" Chronos simply nodded. Despite their peculiar situation, Pluto had to smile. "So you are not perfect after all." "Far from it, I fear. You care as much for Chibi-Usa as I care for Chibi Chibi." After that, both women remained silent for a while. Finally Chronos spoke up again. "As far as I see it, there's only one way. We have to tell your Princess about this. She is the one who would have had the choice anyway." Pluto looked at her doubtingly. "I don't think she can make that choice." "She will have to, Pluto. I'm sorry. So will you do it?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Will she ever learn to be on time?" A young woman with long black hair asked. Her dark violet eyes were flashing angrily. "Calm down, Rei! She's only five minutes late up to now!" Another woman, slightly smaller, with short blue hair and blue eyes, said. "But Rei's right, Ami! She's always late. Why can't she be on time at least once!?" A third woman broke in. Part of her long blond hair was held back by a red bow, and she had blue eyes. "Well..." The fourth woman began. She was taller than her companions, and had brown, slightly wavy hair worn up in a ponytail, and green eyes, "You usually aren't any better, Minako." "No, that's right." The first woman, Rei, said. "But at least she managed this time." "But that's only because she's so anxious to see Yaten again." A white cat with a crescent moon symbol on its forehead had joined the conversation. "Oh, shut up, Artemis!" Minako demanded. "You don't know what it's like to have to live with her." The white cat continued, ignoring her. "During the last weeks it was always 'Yaten said this...' and 'Yaten did that...' and 'Do you think Yaten would like that?' and -" The sentence was cut off abruptly, as Minako grabbed the cat and clamped his mouth shut. But it was already to late. "Oh, really, Minako? I didn't know that. Did you, Makoto?" Rei grinned mischievously. "No, Rei, I had no idea!" Makoto continued where Rei had left off. "Well, it seems that she never tells us anything!" Rei said in fake-anger. That wasn't true, of course. They usually had a very hard time stopping their fair-haired friend from talking. "Why do you always pick on me? That's not fair!" Minako cried angrily. "But we don't usually pick on you." Ami, who had kept quiet most of the time, objected. "Right!" Rei agreed readily. "But Usagi isn't here now, so it's your turn." Everyone looked at Rei, embarrassed. (Sweat drops again, folks ~_^) "Take somebody else, then. Why don't you ask Ami what preparations she made for Taiki?!" Minako seemed desperate to get their attention away from her. "Oh, how mean!" Ami sounded upset. "But I must say it is a good question. Well, Ami, how much time have you spent on getting ready this morning?" Rei was in her element now. Besides she was really curious about her shy friend's feelings toward the tall singer. Minako, for once happy that she wasn't the center of attention anymore, finally let go of Artemis, who had started to turn quite blue. The white cat took deep breaths and jumped away hastily, to give Minako no time to change her mind. "About high time!" he muttered under his breath. "Oh, well...I...ahem...I spent...uhm..." Ami was blushing furiously. "Didn't we all spend more time than usual this morning? After all, every one of us is excited to see them again." Makoto leapt to her friend's rescue. Ami gave her a grateful look. Minako opened her mouth to say something, but luckily she was interrupted by a loud hoot."Usagi's here!" Makoto exclaimed. The four women grabbed their luggage, and ran down the stairs of the Hikawa Shrine, their quarrels forgotten. "Ten minutes, Usagi!" Rei screamed. "You're ten minutes late!" Well, almost forgotten... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Somewhere outside Tokyo two women were sitting on a bench. A third woman was standing nearby, leaning to a red sports car. The by-far youngest of them (she was around 16 years old) had shoulder-length, straight, shiny black hair, and royal purple eyes. She was wearing a black mini-skirt, and a dark purple sleeveless top, and boots of the same color. The second woman had wavy teal hair to just below her shoulders, and aqua colored eyes. She was wearing an elegant, blue-green dress and fitting high-heeled shoes. The third woman, the one who was standing, had short sandy-blond hair, and green eyes. She was wearing an ocher suit, and fitting shoes. That, together with her tomboy hairdo, made her look like a man. All of them were obviously waiting for someone. Suddenly the girl leapt up. "There they are!" she cried, pointing. "That's the Princess' car, I am sure!" The other two women looked in the direction she was pointing, straining to see what the excited girl wanted to show them. Far away, they could see a blue car approaching. "Really, Hotaru, you amaze me time and again. How could you see them from that distance?" the teal-haired woman asked. "Well, that's not a distance!" Hotaru protested. The third woman laughed. "It must be our age, Michiru." "Really, Haruka! You can't be serious!" Despite her words Michiru was smiling. "It's such a pity that we can't come." Hotaru said sadly. "Their world must be beautiful..." Michiru put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Don't be sad, Hotaru. I'm sure you'll have a great time with your dad. And remember, we can always go there another time." Haruka grimaced. Michiru noticed and shot her a warning glance. "Michiru's right, Hotaru." 'Though I will never go there,' "And besides, Chaos may be sealed, but someone has to remain here to protect Earth if need be." Michiru smiled gratefully because Haruka's words seemed to brighten the girl up. "You are right, of course. So we will all go there together, k?" Hotaru asked hopefully. "Of course we will, won't we, Haruka?" Michiru's voice held a certain undertone that made it impossible for Haruka to contradict. So she just nodded. "Promise?" Hotaru asked. 'Drat it!' Haruka thought, "Promise!" Hotaru let out a whoop of joy. "YEAH! You're great!" She paused for a moment, then, suddenly, she ran away. "Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako, Luna, Artemis!" she screamed. "Hello, Hotaru!" a chorus of seven voices greeted her. Michiru and Haruka turned around to see the before mentioned individuals walk up to them. "Hi, Michiru. Hi, Haruka!" "Hi minna. You took long." Haruka said. "Well, Usagi was late." Minako explained. "As usual." Rei added. Usagi looked upset at their words. "You're doing it again!" "What?" Rei asked innocently. "Picking on me!" "We? Never. We simply told the truth." Rei retorted. "No! You were picking on me!" Usagi repeated. "Weren't!" "Were!" "WEREN'T!" "WERE!" Everyone sighed and looked at them (*sweat drops* ^_^). "Will they ever stop that?" Hotaru asked. Makoto shook her head. "I doubt it." "Not while they live, anyways." A familiar, female voice added. Everyone turned around, even Rei and Usagi. "Setsuna!" "Where have you been?" Michiru asked. "I had some business to do." Setsuna replied evasively. 'What's up with her?' Hotaru wondered. 'She seems upset, and sad.' Setsuna looked at her Princess. 'She looks so happy. I can't tell her. I will tell her later...after the holidays. On her return.' She knew she was just delaying the confrontation. 'I can't make her unhappy!' "Well, we should get going now." Ami said, looking at the sky. She and Setsuna had worked out a method to make the Senshi teleport more effective, thus allowing them to take the two cats, and their luggage, with them. "Right!" Minako agreed excitedly. "Bye, minna!" The other girls also made their good-byes and one by one took their positions. Haruka held Usagi back, took her arm and lead her a little way from the group. She looked at her Princess seriously. "Remember to keep away from that Seiya." "But Haruka, he's my friend!" the younger woman protested. "Well, at least be careful!" Usagi nodded, knowing it was the only way to reassure Haruka. And it worked. Haruka seemed satisfied. "Alright, we should go back now. The others are waiting." Both women walked back to the group, where Michiru had told the other girls to keep a good look on Seiya as well. Then the five women took their positions, and transformed. "Mercury!" "Venus!" "Mars!" "Jupiter!" "Moon!" Then, unisonous: "Extended Sailor Transport, Activate!" With a brilliant flash of multicolored light they were gone. Chronos had watched with increasing impatience and annoyance. Had she not anticipated that? "She had the chance, but she let it pass! We don't have all eternity for this. It seems like I will have to do it." And she already had a plan. Okay, people, that was it, part 1. Do you like it? Or not? (hopefully not ~_^)The next chapter will be finished soon!! Ja ne, Avalanche ~~**~~**~~**~~**~~***~~***~~~***~~~***~~~**~~**~~**~~ When I first loaded it up it was absloutely messed up (no idea why), but LiNa revised and edited it for me, and I hope this time everything is displayed correctly ^_^ Thanks a lot, LiNa!!! P.S.: The other Chapters will hopefully be added soo, too, so please be patient!!! 


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